Judge removes Benedictine from 9/11 defamation lawsuit

Benedictine University has been dropped as a defendant in a defamation lawsuit filed by the owners of a Naperville gas station.

DuPage County Judge Kenneth Popejoy on Thursday removed the school from the suit, filed last year by Jafar and Irshad Khan, owners of a Mobil station near the Lisle university.

The Khans had sued the school, its former director of public relations, Andi Kuhn, and various residents, accusing them of spreading false statements. According to the suit, filed late last year, the defendants spread the word via e-mail that the Khans were supporters of Osama bin Laden and kept a picture of him inside their Ogden Avenue business.

The lawsuit claimed that Kuhn, who has resigned, sent the false e-mails using Benedictine's computer system.

William Ulrich, an attorney representing the school, said the institution "would never condone what was alleged. This was a taint that the school never deserved."

"What Andi Kuhn did or didn't do had nothing to do with her job at the university, and she was never authorized to do it and the school had no knowledge of it," he said.

Kuhn and Marie DeGroh of Naperville, who also is accused of interfering with the Khans' business by sending e-mails suggesting that people boycott the station, still are defendants.

Two other residents had been dismissed from the lawsuit. Popejoy ruled the complaints against them were too vague.

The Khans say they suffered substantial business losses as a result of the rumors.